Dedicating Gossip
by allconspirer
Summary: No 2. Latest in the Gossip series,set after discovering gossip. Naruto and Hinata are teetering on the edge of coupledom, when something big happens which way will they go? The only two-shot of the series. Now a three shot!
1. A mission

Ok folks this is a two shot because otherwise the chapter will be inordinately lengthy and kind of convoluted (I'm using big words today!), of course if it doesn't get loads of reviews I may have to leave it unfinished... hint hint!

I do not own Naruto!

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Shoving his hands into his pockets Naruto walked jauntily down the street, he'd just been hanging out with Hinata and it always made him unusually cheerful. They'd been having lunch together quite a lot and whenever one of them returned from a mission the first thing they would do was seek the other out. It felt so good to have someone so happy to see you, Naruto had never really had someone to come home to before. She had even visited him when he was in hospital, and brought flowers. She had brought her favourites, daffodils, she had also apologised, afraid they might seem girly but she had no idea how touched he was to receive them, girls with flowers usually visited Sasuke.

Today whilst talking about movies with her the conversation had led to him inviting her to see a film at the cinema that weekend. In reality he ought to be ashamed of himself, it had taken him three months to finally get up the courage to ask her and even now they were only doing it as friends.

Still it was a step in the right direction.

With any luck by the time Kazuhiko returned in nine months time he would have gotten up the courage to actually confirm they were dating and that would be enough to keep the guy away. As he continued his stroll he noticed Ino and Ten-Ten leaving a shop, they were too caught up in discussing their purchases to notice him and for some reason he was glad of that. He didn't want to see them right now, he didn't know why but he suddenly felt very secretive, if there was one person in the ninja world with the ability to, not only sniff out a personal secret but also get it out of someone it was Ino.

Ducking out of sight he dropped to one knee and began untying and retying his shoelace, if they noticed him he didn't want them to think he was hiding from them... even though he was.

"_If I don't find a better skirt in twenty minutes I'm coming back for that blue one."_

"_It was cute! Did you know that Hinata is at the hospital again? She's there right now, why's she there so often?" _Ino's voice was clear as she and Ten-Ten stood chatting outside the shop.

"_I don't know, Hanabi doesn't know, Neji doesn't know, he daren't ask Hiashi because Hiashi hasn't noticed yet and you know what he's like." _Ten-Ten sighed audibly as she thought about it

"_Yeah, Hinata's the weak one and all that bull..., if it weren't against the rules I'd sneak a peek in her files."_

"_She'll tell us when she's ready, it's been months so at least she can't be pregnant."_

"_Ten-Ten!" _shocked by her friend's suggestion Ino laughed loudly.

"_What!?! That Kazuhiko was hot, I wouldn't say no and neither would you!" _laughing the two girls began to walk out of Naruto's hearing.

Still crouched down Naruto began to wonder about what Ino and Ten-Ten had been talking about, he remembered that his entire pursuit of Hinata had begun when Sakura had remarked that Hinata had been at the hospital a lot.

'STUPID!'

How could he have been so stupid?

Hinata was not so much of a mystery to him now but he had never even thought to ask her why she was at the hospital. Of course according to Ino she was there now, if he went there he could actually ask her, she'd be cornered and have to answer... of course if he did that he ran the risk of her hating him for it and sending him away...

No, Naruto was determined to find out what was wrong with Hinata! No one seemed to know what was wrong with her, Ino Ten-Ten and Sakura seemed to be the only female friends that she had and they didn't know, Hanabi and Neji were the only family she had that cared and they didn't know. Really by forcing her to tell him it might do her some good.

Before Naruto even realised it his feet had taken him to the hospital, he found the front desk unmanned, as stealthily as possible he walked around the desk and discreetly tapped Hinata's name into the computer system. Quickly scanning the information it pulled up he found her room number but no information about her condition. As he whipped back around the desk he was just in time to avoid a nurse heading towards the desk. Luckily he was well known for visiting Sakura at the hospital a lot so she didn't find it too odd to see him there.

He was on the third floor and on his way to her room in seconds, he wandered around the corridors for a while before finally finding the right place. Room 342

Raising his hand he knocked nervously on the door. There was no response.

"Hinata?" twisting the door handle Naruto entered the room, Hinata wasn't there, walking in he closed the door behind him. His eyes locked onto the chart at the end of the bed and he was about to head for it when he heard a toilet flush in the bathroom beside him, then a tap turned on. Hinata must be in there he told himself with a smile, putting the chart back down he looked around the room again. He'd wait for Hinata to come out and talk to her then. It was definitely Hinata's room, that was her coat on the chair... and her trousers... and her top... damn she might be naked!!

Panicking Naruto grabbed the nearest door and wrenching it open jumped through.

It wasn't the best move ever as he ended up inside the cupboard but at least Hinata wouldn't think he was a weirdo... unless she found him hiding in here... now he thought about it she was probably wearing one of those hospital gowns.

God he was an idiot.

He was just considering leaving the cupboard and getting out the room in order to re-enter later when he heard a door open. Holding his breath Naruto tensed up.

"Hinata?" Damn! It was Tsunade! He was in so much trouble when he got caught.

"Just a second" Hinata called and soon another door could be heard opening.

"Well I'll say this, you're the only person I know that can pull off the hospital gown with style."

"You've just seen me in it too often" Hinata replied with a smile.

"Ok, down to business, let see that Byakugan in action" he heard Tsunade suggest, biting his lip to force himself not to protest Naruto knew he was done for. The moment Hinata used her 'all seeing' eyes she'd know he was here.

"Ok" Hinata's quiet voice sounded nervous, Naruto could practically see her in his minds eye, of course in his mind she stood shy and sweet with a light pink flush on her cheeks. "Byakugan" Naruto was cut from his daydream and reminded of his danger when Hinata spoke again.

He waited for Hinata to point out his hiding place, to shout out to him, or announce to Tsunade that there was some pervert hiding in the closet.

She didn't

No mention of his hiding place was made.

"Well?" Tsunade asked eagerly.

"St-still no different" Hinata muttered sounding tearful

"What? No difference at all?"

"None."

"I don't see how that's possible, that last course of treatment was..." Tsunade seemed angry "Argh" there was an angry yell followed by a crash, grinning briefly Naruto couldn't help but wonder what Tsunade had smashed this time but his mind stayed on one very big question 'Why hadn't Hinata seen him?'

"It's reall-lly quite alright" Hinata tried to comfort Tsunade her voice fearful.

"No it isn't, I will solve this Hinata, I will make it alright"

"It's too late Tsunade" Hinata whispered "My father already suspects that something is wrong, there is no time for further treatment and no guarantee of success. Besides, I am ready, I know what I must do and I can do it. I am not afraid of what's going to happen." Cold fear gripped Naruto's heart, something was wrong, really wrong.

"There may be other ways to..."

"No, I've got to learn to live with this. Getting my hopes up is a bad idea."

As Hinata spoke there was a knock, it sounded like someone was at the door to her room.

"Who is it?" Tsunade snarled, a door opened and quickly closed again, brief silence followed before the Hokage spoke again "I've got somewhere to be, you wait here, I'll be right back." Once the door had opened and closed again Naruto correctly guessed that Hinata was alone.

Part of him wanted to remain in hiding, he didn't want to be thought of as a pervert or for Hinata to think he was spying on her... even though technically he was.

Finally he raised his hand and opened the door. Hinata was standing with her back to the closet and didn't notice his odd entry to the room. After a moment or two of indecision Naruto decided there was only one thing to do.

"Oh" jumping at the sound of someone clearing their throat Hinata turned to see Naruto standing behind her. "Naruto?"

Ok so it wasn't the best plan ever but he wanted to talk to her and he wanted to do it now.

"Hey Hinata"

"H-how did you get in here?"

"I was kinda... I was kinda in the closet"

"Kind of in the closet?" Hinata repeated nervously.

"Yeah" Naruto nodded scratching the back of his neck.

"Why?"

"I was trying to find out what was wrong with you. You wouldn't tell anyone but I knew something was up, then I found out what room you were in so I snuck in but you were in the bathroom and your clothes were there and I didn't want you to think I was being a pervert so I hid in there..." pointing to the cupboard Naruto explained the situation breathlessly, as soon as he was done he asked the pressing question "Why didn't you see me?"

Hinata frowned "Because you were in the closet."

"Why didn't you see me with your Byakugan?"

"Oh" Hinata nodded her eyes nervously darting to the floor "It's a long story."

"I've got time"

Slowly Hinata walked over to the bed, placing her hands on the bed she lifted herself to sit on the edge. Naruto watched as the young woman's shoulders hunched over and she seemed to become even smaller than she really was. He wanted to go forward and embrace her, wanted to comfort her and tell her she didn't need to tell him but..., he was worried, he really needed to know what was going on.

"It happened over a year ago" she admitted with a sigh "We were on a mission it was supposed to be simple, we were in a neutral area... we got into a fight, it escalated. The people we were facing knew how to manipulate light, they managed to blind us, we all had to keep our eyes closed but that left us pretty unprotected. Luckily I found that by using my Bykaugan at odd intervals I could avoid being completely sightless. There wasn't much I could do except move us all to a safe distance. Once we were away I thought that would be an end to it but a few months afterwards I began to notice that my Byakugan didn't stretch as far as it used to. I went to see Tsunade, she ran some tests and noticed that there was some damage." She paused poking her index fingers together in a gesture Naruto hadn't seen in a long time.

Walking forward Naruto took Hinata's hands and pulled them apart placing them gently on her lap "Keep going."

"It was that mission, I had noticed that every time I used my Byakugan it hurt but what else could I have done? Anyway, over the last year it's gotten slowly worse until..." Hinata paused and activated her Byakugan "I can see you now, your chakra pathways but if you were to take but one step back then..." she pushed him away gently "Then there's nothing, just you, just Naruto. My eyes see nothing more, just two weeks ago I would have been able to see it all, two weeks ago I would have seen you properly, like when you were closer." Hinata sighed placing her hands in her lap again "You're one of the first people I've officially told, Kiba and Shino know, as does Kurenai. They needed to know especially as I'm not allowed to do dangerous missions anymore."

"Why haven't you told anyone? We're your friends we..."

"I couldn't" Hinata spoke desperately "my father doesn't know yet and I'm nervous to tell him, the council will have a field day, my sister will need to become the new leader, she's not ready for the pressure, I may still get sealed, I did want to tell my friends, I wanted to tell everyone especially you but I felt..."

"Especially me?" Naruto interrupted smiling at the admission.

"What?" Cut off from her rambling speech Hinata didn't realise what she had said to make Naruto so happy.

"You said you wanted to tell everyone **especially me**. I asked, why **especially me**?"

"Uh... Did I?" Hinata asked suddenly feeling even more nervous.

"You did" Naruto nodded watching her face carefully, she was flustered again, before as she had told him the story she had remained calm, almost serene but now she was her usual stuttering stumbling self. "Why did you want to especially tell me?"

"Because...because I love you!" Hinata told him honestly throwing caution to the wind and just allowing the truth to come out "There's no other way of explaining it, I've liked you for a long time, I thought maybe I'd eventually get over you but it's just gotten stronger. I know that you and I are just friends in your eyes but I really do love you. I know that this isn't what you expected to hear when you asked me to be honest with you but, it's the truth, and I wanted you to know it. I know you're a g-good guy and I promise that I'm OK with us just going back to being friends after...," worried that Naruto was still saying nothing and that she couldn't stop babbling Hinata raised her head to look at the man she had finally made her declaration to. "Naruto?"

He was just staring at her, there was an odd vague smile on his face that made Hinata feel almost scared. Cautiously placing a hand on Naruto's arm she shook him gently "Naruto?" Hinata questioned again, still no response, Hinata began to really worry now "Naruto... are you ok?"

With a swift movement Naruto grabbed Hinata's arm and pulling her towards him pressed his lips desperately to hers. Surprised Hinata made a stifled protestation causing their first kiss to fall short but moving to wrap his arms around her Naruto was quick to remedy the first failure. The second kiss was just as sudden but as Hinata was now aware that it was going to happen she made no move to stop it, instead she clung to Naruto unable to believe that it was really happening. Vaguely she wondered if Tsunade had slipped her some morphine, which would certainly explain this wonderful dream.

It had been a completely spontaneous action when Naruto kissed Hinata, he hadn't planned on doing it, he hadn't really known he was doing it but, there was one thing Naruto was known for, his spontaneous behaviour, he had a reputation for allowing his mouth to engage before his brain had and this time it was especially true. Usually when Naruto did the first thing that entered his head it would end up being the worst thing he could have done but this time, with Hinata's lips on his and her arms slipping easily around his neck he knew that it was probably the best impulsive action he had ever made.

Breathless the two of them pulled apart and stared at each other, Hinata was wide eyed and flushed, Naruto was grinning and for once totally calm. After a few moments of staring at each other Naruto raised his hand to caress her cheek before moving in again to take possession of her lips. It was a heady sensation like drinking sakѐ, but without the negative side effects, slowly their lips opened and the kiss became more intense. Naruto couldn't get enough, pulling her closer he actually pulled her to her feet in order to get their bodies closer and to press them together. He'd never really noticed how much shorter Hinata was but as he lifted her off the ground to keep their kiss going he realised that she was very small and light. It was the perfect moment, nothing could ruin it...

The door opened.

"Right Hinata I've managed to..."

Stunned Tsunade stopped as the young couple jumped apart stuttering excuses and flushing red. For a few brief seconds she let them stew, she watched as they avoided her gaze and each others before breaking the silence and asking

"Would one of you like to tell me what's going on?"

There was silence.

"I'll take that as a no then, Naruto would you mind going outside for a moment?"

"Um..." Naruto looked over at Hinata who stared determinedly down at her feet "sure" he took Hinata's hand and brought it to his lips kissing it tenderly before walking to the door. "I'll be right outside" he informed them as he left the room.

Smiling Tsunade walked forward and took hold of Hinata's wrist, gently she led the trembling girl to a chair and sat her down.

"Now Hinata, do you want to tell me what's happened?" Tsunade asked pulling and instrument form her pocket and shining a light into the young Hyuga's eyes.

"N-not really." Hinata muttered wishing she could go back to staring at the floor, unfortunately with Tsunade examining her eyes it appeared to be a bad idea to try and look away.

"I see." Tsunade moved away putting her torch back into her pocket "Well I was just coming to tell you that I've managed to score an appointment with Novello our top optician next month, he'd going to study how far the damage is likely to go and see to what extent you will lose your vision. If you are lucky it will only be the Byakugan that's affected"

"Lucky?" Hinata asked with a wry smile "A Hyuga without the Byakugan, how lucky can that be? As far as my family are concerned I am nothing, I have nothing to offer"

"Do your family really matter so much? Surely you only have to care about what a certain young blond concerns himself with." Tsunade fought the urge not to laugh at Hinata's startled face and flushing cheeks.

"Pl-please Tsunade I cannot... I shouldn't have..." Hinata sighed feeling very miserable, she faked a smile as she looked at her doctor "He probably didn't mean it."

Tsunade was not at all fooled by the smile on her patients face and feeling oddly motherly knelt in front of the girl "Hinata, I may not know you very well but, I do know Naruto and he wouldn't have kissed you unless he meant it, he may be thoughtless and slapdash but when he does something he does it because he wants it to happen."

"He was just showing pity to a poor girl who has nothing else left in this world" Hinata remained miserable shaking her head "No, even though we all know that Naruto seems to be over his crush on Sakura he still idolises her, he still see's her as the ideal, the girl of his dreams."

"I doubt that" Tsunade said with a smile "in dreams you don't feel any pain, Sakura hits him so often he would never feel like he was dreaming with her!"

Hinata laughed despite herself but again shook her head "You're being very kind but it's not like I can be fooled and... I can't do it... I can never be with Naruto knowing he wished to be with someone else."

"I understand that but..., maybe you need to talk to Naruto about this. I'm pretty sure he'll be able to allay these fears of yours"

Tsunade smiled down at her patient, she had a sneaking suspicion that Hinata would be good for Naruto and vice versa. She was a calming but encouraging influence, she would have total faith in Naruto and he would respond well to that sort of encouragement. She had never seen Naruto and Sakura as a viable couple, she was too dismissive and he would spend all his time feeling the need to get her attention which would drive her crazy, it would result in a surlier Sakura and a noisier Naruto. It was the thing of nightmares.

Still, there were more important things to think of "Actually... I do have an idea about how to help you Hinata"

--

Naruto stood outside Hinata's room smiling broadly. Once the initial reaction of embarrassment because of the interruption was gone all he could do was smile. Hinata loved him, ok so Kazuhiko had told him about it, ok so he had heard Ino and Sakura talk about it but to actually hear her say it... Naruto felt like cart-wheeling down the hallway, he hadn't felt this good in ages, with her loving him he felt as though he could take on the world and win!

It was an odd feeling for Naruto, most of his life he had felt like it was him alone against the world and though he had vowed never to lose he suddenly felt like... a winner. He wanted to tell someone, the urge to just grab someone and tell them how good he had it was overwhelming, luckily the corridor was empty, he didn't want to embarrass himself. He had known that he liked her for ages, he had even known that it was probably love but the moment she had confessed to him he had known how he felt. And boy did it feel good.

He could barely stand still as he waited for Tsunade to leave the room and allow him back in.

Remembering Tsunade made him think about why Hinata was here, why Tsunade was examining her, why he had finally kissed her. Internally Naruto had to admit that when Hinata had admitted why she was in hospital it had worried him but the almost immediate admittance that she liked... no, loved him, had distracted him from the subject.

How could Hinata be a ninja? She was strong but she was greatly dependent on her bloodline limit. For once Naruto was glad he didn't have anything like that to depend on... just a crabby demon imprisoned in his gut, of course he was more of a hindrance than a help.

The door opened, looking up Naruto smiled nervously at Tsunade as she entered

"Hey Lady Tsunade"

"Respect? Well if this is the result of you kissing Hinata I recommend you do it very often!"

"C'mon" Naruto moaned feeling embarrassed "can you please cut me some slack?"

"Alright, you can go in there... in a second" Tsunade placed a restraining hand on Naruto's arm "There is something I wish to discuss with you first."

"As long as you're not gonna tease me"

"I won't" she agreed and Naruto turned to listen to what she had to say "I want Hinata to go back to Coron, the town where she had that mission" Tsunade informed him "Though it is not a shinobi town the people in that town know a lot about manipulating light and they may be able to teach us something important about how it has affected her."

"She could get hurt again" Naruto argued looking worried

"I will be sending Kiba and Shino with her but... I would like to send someone else, it's a c rank mission and we usually send three active shinobi for that. As Hinata is no longer active..."

"I'll go" Naruto had known she was angling for him to come but for once he didn't mind falling into the trap.

"Good. Hinata will need to be protected at all times, there's no time for any emotional stuff so, you have to go in there and sort out what just happened with you two."

"Yes ma'am." Naruto nodded cheerfully

"Good, and just so you know..., I'm happy for you!"

Smiling Naruto walked into Hinata's room. As he walked in Hinata turned to face him, she was now fully dressed in full Hinata regalia consisting of dark blue, white and lilac.

"Hey" Naruto smiled nervously at Hinata "So.... Tsunade told me the plan"

"Yes..." Hinata suddenly found her sandals very interesting "So... I'll be out of town for a few weeks"

"Me too!"

"What?" Hinata looked up her eyes wide and panicked

"Tsunade was telling me about it and I wanted to come." He said as casually as possible.

"You don't have to if you don't want to. I mean... I understand that what you did probably didn't mean anything to you so I guess I was just..."

"Hinata" Naruto took hold of her shoulders firmly before staring into her eyes "I care about you. I don't have time to prove it before we go on this mission but I swear, when we come back I'm gonna make sure you know how much I care about you. Until then..." Naruto placed his hand on her cheek and leaned to place the lightest of kisses on her lips "I'll be thinking about you."

As he exited the room Naruto left behind a very unsteady version of Hinata. She just stood staring at where he had been until a nurse came in to remake the bed.

--

Dressed in civilian clothes, carrying a light rucksack and leaving his forehead protector at home for once Naruto was ready to leave for his latest mission in no time. He was really looking forward to it, he'd get to spend some time with Hinata and though it put their movie date on hold he was pretty sure that it wouldn't affect them too badly.

She had been the first one there and Naruto had been the second, Hinata was extremely shy as she greeted Naruto, not for the first time she was very glad that there were people guarding the gate. It meant she didn't have to be alone with him, she didn't even known how to greet him properly, was she supposed to hug him? Kiss him?!? Being in love was just too damn confusing! He wore a simple white t-shirt, grey jacket and black trousers and looked like the perfect tourist. She wore similar clothes, more feminine of course, her trousers were light blue and her top white, she wore a light yellow jacket, she looked suitably casual but no one would know how she had agonised over her choices. It had been even worse packing for this as she could only really take one bag and it had to appear light.

If Kiba and Shino, when they joined them, noticed that Hinata seemed a little distracted they didn't comment on it as the four humans left their home village. Kiba seemed a little too caught up in the fact that he'd had to leave Akamaru at home to really notice any thing and Shino... well he was Shino, you never really knew what he was thinking. Naruto was annoyed though, he was never alone with Hinata and she barely looked at him, it was like they'd gone back to their academy days, or life before lunch with Kazuhiko, he needed to break the ice again.

They arrived in the small village of Coron after a mere two days travel, and were surprised to see that the quiet town had become a bustling hive of activity.

Confused but wanting to blend in they found the nearest hotel and set about booking room.

"Hello you lovely young people!" the hale and hearty voice that welcomed them made them all feel like running for the door but years of training had readied them for this and they stood their ground.

"Welcome to my humble hotel! I am Galen the proprietor of this hotel. Now you lovely young people must be here for the celebration!"

"Of course" Hinata agreed not wanting to blow their cover "We just need some rooms"

"You are lucky, I have had some cancellations... not that a beautiful young woman like you would have been made to sleep on the streets" Galen smiled down at the nervous Hinata who flushed and made some sort of ineloquent noise. Immediately Naruto came to her rescue slipping an arm around her waist and saying

"I'd never let anything like that happen to her." He said dangerously, behind him Kiba and Shino watched as Hinata blushed but leaned awkwardly into his embrace.

"Of course. So... two rooms?" the still grinning Galen asked looking at the group in front of him

"Of course" Naruto nodded in agreement

"Two rooms, one for each lovely couple!" Galen announced before heading to the desk

Realising what Galen had said, and what he had assumed Kiba and Shino were Naruto and Hinata exchanged a painfully entertained look as they tried to contain their mirth.

"What did he say?" Kiba asked through gritted teeth

"He would appear to have assumed that you and I are in a non-platonic relationship." Shino informed him calmly.

"I think I'm going to go jump off something tall." Kiba muttered angrily as he stormed towards the doorway "If he was here Akamaru would be leaving a little present for that guy when we left this dump!"

Behind him Hinata and Naruto shared a giggle, the ice was broken.

--

"So what exactly is this festival?" Kiba asked as they walked around the marquees and stalls that had been set up.

"It's based around the legend of how their town was founded" Hinata informed them reading from the guide book as they walked along.

"How can you read and walk at the same time?" Naruto asked rather surprised that Hinata was successfully avoiding many hazards that she should have walked straight into

"It's a gift, now shush! The Cornian town was founded by seven families many years ago, they had left their native home in a time of great upheaval and wanted to find a more secure place to raise their children, their aim was to return to a more uncomplicated and pure way of life, away from crime, wrongful education, wrongful sexuality, divorce, extortion, religion and what they considered other dishonest ways of life. They found these grounds and began to build a town."

"I'm willing to bet they don't like ninjas, good thing we're undercover" Naruto interrupted

"You don't say" Kiba interrupted

"Shush, having no religion or laws the family elders set about making the rules for the town. The two eldest children had fallen in love and wished to marry."

"I'm hoping for the parents sake that the two eldest children were a boy and a girl" Naruto muttered earning a laugh from Kiba and a 'shush' from Hinata

"They had no laws for marriage at that time and so that the couple would not consider living in sin the parents wrote the laws quickly. The couple were married by the eldest person in the village, at midnight on what was coincidentally Valentines days for the rest of the world. Unbeknownst to the family on that night when the moon hit the mountains the entire valley would light up as though touched by starlight. As the young couple said their vows the entire setting changed and from that night forward the anniversary of the first marriage to ever take place in Coron. That how the town got it's name too! His surname was Coron so they just kept it. The rules have relaxed since then but they still take lawbreaking very seriously."

"I wonder if it really does light up" Kiba wondered as he looked around, the mountains surrounding the village were white stone and it was believable that if the light hit it right the place would look amazing.

"I guess we'll find out at midnight." Hinata told him still looking down at the book "Oh look, they have seven couples perform the ceremony each year, one for every family that started the town."

"People actually get married at this thing?" Kiba asked surprised, it all looked a bit showy for him.

"Not at all" Galen's voice intruded on the conversation, the four shinobi all held in a groan as they turned to face him. Galen had proven to be a most conversational landlord and it was driving them crazy. Even lunch hadn't been an escape as he turned up at the restaurant they had chosen and insisted on joining them "most of the couples in the Coronian nuptial ceremonies are actors, the ceremony is a tourist thing though it does..."

"GALEN!" They were saved from anymore lengthy explanations by an unknown woman who called away the hotel owner, he apologised to them and they were suitably, though falsely, sorry to see him go.

"I need a burger!" Hinata moaned as they walked past a nearby food stall the scent caused both her and Naruto to stop and turn.

"Not me" Shino said looking disgusted "I'd prefer something a little more nutritional, I believe I saw a suitable repast as we entered, I shall head over there."

"Yeah I saw a place selling stuff that Akamaru will like at the front as well, I need to get a gift to apologise for leaving him behind. I'll go with Shino, we'll see you two later." Kiba announced patting his partner on the head

"Ok" Both Naruto and Hinata readily agreed but as they walked away Kiba grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him back.

"We want to see you tonight"

"Why Kiba this is all so fast" Naruto teased "and I thought you and Shino were so strong!"

"Just behave yourself, and come visit us before you go to sleep tonight."

"Ok but I don't swing that way!" Shrugging the restraining hand off Naruto jogged after Hinata who had arrived at the food stand and was tuning back to look at them. She watched as Kiba and Shino walked back towards the festivals entrance, they both turned back occasionally as though planning on keeping an eye on them the whole evening.

"What was all that about?" she asked the moment he arrived "He wasn't doing the big brother bit again was he?"

"Just a bit, don't worry about it, I don't scare that easily" Naruto smiled as he linked their arms together "so, what are you having? My treat"

"You don't have to do that." Hinata mumbled turning and keeping her eyes fixed on the menu board.

"It's a romantic celebration I think the men are expected to pay for their partners... I wonder how Kiba and Shino will swing it." Naruto smirked grateful that Hinata had laughed at his joke "Come on, I rarely offer to pay, make the most of this."

"I eat a lot"

"I can afford it."

"Fine! Don't say I didn't warn you. Double cheeseburger, with bacon, a side of chips, and onion rings, and those chicken things" Hinata pointed excitedly.

"Is that all?" Naruto asked surprised that she was eating at all, most girls he knew (Sakura) were always on diets.

"For now!" she told him "Naruto you're gonna have to get used to my eating habits, I could probably out eat you!"

"Now that's a challenge!" Naruto agreed, he smiled down at Hinata as she leaned into him, raising one hand he ran his fingers through her hair

--

"I can't believe you ate so much" Naruto said with a smile as, holding hands he and Hinata walked along chewing on a cookie each. It seemed unreal how quickly and easily they had slipped into this girlfriend, boyfriend, thing. It felt nice, comfortable.

"It's gross isn't it" conscience stricken Hinata suddenly realised she must have looked like such a pig, she was normally so proper but when on missions with Kiba and Shino she always lost her prim Hyuga ways and began to eat exactly as she wished to. It was a hard habit to break.

"No, it's cute" Naruto told her bringing their walk to a stop and leaning in to kiss her on the cheek, "and I love you... just the way you are."

"You do?" Hinata smiled shyly up at him and soon both biscuits fell to the ground forgotten as Naruto wrapped his arms around her and began to kiss her gently. The two of them were totally unaware of an audience as they held each other close, for once both of them forgot about the people around them and remained embracing each other.

"Isn't this perfect?" Galen asked turning to the woman beside him

"Absolutely perfect." She agreed smiling at them "introduce me."

"Gladly... oh Naruto! Hinata!" Galen dragged the woman forward towards the young couple who were pulling apart exasperatedly.

'Talk about bad timing' Hinata whispered feeling annoyed

'You hold him, and I'll punch' Naruto muttered before leaving Hinata's embrace and turning to greet Galen "Hello!"

"Hello Naruto, Hinata, meet Lorna.... listen." Before the couple had time to greet the new woman Galen had continued talking "We've lost one of the couples from the ceremony" Galen told them mournfully "Now there will only be six couples standing on the stage when it happens. It'll be the first time in over a hundred years that there aren't seven couples on the stage."

"As it's not real can't you just rope someone else in?" Naruto asked looking puzzled

"Actually..." the young woman said with a smile "That's exactly what we're doing, Galen told us that you were a couple and all you have to do is stand on the stage, say you love each other, is hold hands..."

"You want us to do it?"

"Exactly" Lorna agreed grinning "Hasn't Galen explained that it...?"

"Yeah!" Naruto cut in "He told us that it's just for show but..."

"Exactly and you and your girlfriend will be in the place with the best view of the valley lighting up."

For a split second Naruto stood on the brink of indecision but he knew that Hinata had been looking forward to the moment when the moonlight hit the valley and he wanted to make sure she had the best view. "Fine!" Naruto agreed not knowing what else to say.

"Really?" Hinata asked surprised that he would be willing to go through with such a cheesy display.

"Don't you want to get the best view?"

"Well yeah but... Really?" Hinata smiled and slipped her arms around his waist.

"Of course, so we go through some silly ceremony, it's just us being honest after all."

"Excellent, this way" Lorna took hold of Hinata's hand and began to drag her away, Hinata sent Naruto a desperate look as she held tight to his hand afraid that he would get lost on the way. Naruto merely returned the look with a panicked expression of his own. The two of them laughed together as they got dragged through the crowds and over to the stage that had been set up in the middle of the town.

They were dragged towards a stall to join six other couples who were all standing arguing with each other. Confused Naruto and Hinata turned to Lorna hoping for a response.

"They're all actors" Lorna explained "We didn't have any real couples volunteer this year, and for some reason, this year none of the actors we chose seem to be able to get along! You guys are the only ones up here that will actually mean it when you say you love each other tonight, you're the only ones that actually like each other! Now, if the two of you just follow their lead. Everything will be fine!"

Before either Naruto or Hinata could ask any more questions they were being led up onto the staging with the others. Whilst Hinata seemed to find the whole thing amusing Naruto felt embarrassed. He could see Kiba and Shino standing in the audience and Kiba looked ridiculously amused by what was happening.

They were standing above the crowds on a circular stage that meant everyone could surround it. He could tell that Hinata was less than comfortable as everyone stared up at them.

Finally the town elder appeared on the stage and he walked slowly to the middle of the platform. All the couples turned to face him and bowed (Naruto and Hinata were a little slow as they really had no clue what they were doing)

"Does each couple declare their love for each other?" the town elder asked

"I do" everyone repeated as one (Naruto and Hinata's voices trailed behind the others a little as they 'followed everyone else's lead')

"Do you pledge to be faithful to one another?"

"I do"

"And do you swear upon all that you hold dear, that you will remain together until death?"

Hinata's eyes widened a bit at this but both she and Naruto obediently said their 'I do' along with the others

"Then I confirm that you are joined, you may kiss"

That was it?

Only just holding his laughter in himself, Naruto could feel Hinata giggling as he embraced her and leaned down to kiss her, the other couples on stage had looks of such distaste on their faces that it was hard to believe they could ever be hired as actors.

"Quit laughing" Naruto whispered as he buried his head into the crook of her neck

"I can't help it" she whispered back "it's all so silly and..."

There was a loud explosive sounding crash from around the mountains and suddenly all the lights form the festival went out. Instinctively both Naruto and Hinata reached for the hidden kunai at their belt but were stalled when white light swiftly began to surround them.

Silvery light shone down from above reflecting around the mountains and casting a heavenly light over the crowds. Naruto couldn't believe how amazing everything looked, it was like looking at a totally different village. Soon his gaze travelled to the young woman whose hand he held, he gasped as he stared into her eyes. They Hyuga eyes were always mysterious, but here, bathed in the silver light, they positively glowed. Feeling his gaze upon her Hinata turned to him her face lit up with silver light and a happy smile.

"Not laughing anymore?" he asked running his hands through her dark hair that shimmered in the moon light.

"Suddenly it doesn't seem so silly"

--

"Why did you let me eat so much?" Hinata moaned unhappily as she unlocked their bedroom door. Naruto could barely believe that she had said that. After the ceremony he had rescued her from the gossipy Galen

"_If all the couples would please wait one moment..." Galen had started to say but Naruto and Hinata didn't stick around to listen as they decided to escape as soon as possible_

"_Are you sure this is alright?" Hinata had asked as they snuck away._

"_Of course" Naruto shrugged it off as they jumped off the back of the stage and away "Well that's over with... what do we do now?" Naruto asked looking around_

"_I dunno, I'm full and I don't really fancy any of the games"_

"_Me either"_

"_Well we could just... ooh! Ice cream!" Hinata's suddenly exclamation surprised Naruto as she began to drag him over to an ice cream stand _

"_I thought you were full?"_

"_It's ice cream" Hinata told him as though that somehow explained everything. Oddly enough, to Naruto, it did. _

"If I'd tried to stop you you'd probably have bitten my hand off" he told her remembering how she had managed to consume two ice creams and half a candyfloss after the 'nuptial ceremony'.

"I wouldn't!" Hinata told him with a smile "You have nice hands"

"Thank you" Naruto smiled down at her watching as she yawned cutely "You go in, I told Kiba and Shino I'd stop by their room before we went to sleep."

"Ok, don't let them freak you out... good night" standing up on her tip toes Hinata pressed her lips to his in a sweet but sleepy kiss. Naruto smiled at her happily as she slipped into their room closing the door behind her.

Yawning as he went Naruto walked along to the others room, he was just raising his hand to knock when the door opened and a hand shot out to drag him into the room.

The door slammed shut behind him and two very threatening males.

"Um... you wanted to see me?" Naruto squeaked nervously

"We just maintain a small number of ground rules about sharing a room with Hinata to put into place..." Shino explained as Kiba smiled menacingly.

--

Sighing happily Hinata looked up at the ceiling, she had slept extremely well last night zoning out the moment she crashed on the bed. She didn't even remember Naruto coming in but she could hear his breathing beside the bed. They had been given a double bed and he had been a real gentlemen setting up blankets on the floor in a makeshift bed. She was tempted to roll over and look at him she also didn't want to. Last night had been so much fun but it was also very dreamlike, she wasn't really sure what sort of ground they stood on. She needed him to confirm that he wanted to be with her.

"Are you awake?" Naruto's voice seemed to cut through the silence of the early morning as he sat up to peek at Hinata.

"Good morning" Hinata whispered as she rolled over to face him, she felt strangely happy to be waking up to him, even though he had slept on the floor. It felt strangely matrimonial. "Did you sleep ok?"

"Perfectly, you?"

"Fine, but I was in the bed"

"I'm a ninja, I've slept on worse surfaces"

"Of course" Hinata sighed at her own stupidity "I guess I was being stupid"

"I'm glad you care so much." Naruto told the blushing girl "How hungry are you?"

"Starving!" Hinata groaned sitting up in her bed.

"I love a girl that can eat." He grinned jumping to his feet, she blushed even more as she processed his comment. "Come on I think I hear Shino and Kiba moving about and the last thing I want is for them to barge in and drag me out accusing me of stuff."

"Good point" Hinata agreed as she went to change in the en-suite, she was surprisingly quick at changing and Naruto was in and out in almost the same amount of time. They left the room together and were immediately set upon by two very overprotective male team-mates

"We didn't do anything" Naruto stated holding his hands up

"We know you didn't" Kiba stated and Shino obviously agreed.

"How do you know? Were you spying on us?" Naruto asked disgusted

"No, it was merely deduction on our part" Shino explained "the warning we gave you last night was sufficiently clear enough to ensure that Hinata's virtue wouldn't be damaged when you shared the room."

"What he said." Kiba agreed with a smirk.

"Leave us alone" Hinata rebuked her team mates "come on Naruto" she slipped her hand into his and together the group made their way down for breakfast. Enjoying the attention he got when he played the demoralized and downtrodden card Naruto kept it up, all the way downstairs Hinata was saying nice things to him and kept her arm securely linked with his.

Annoyed at Naruto's behaviour Shino turned around to tell Hinata "He's doing it on purpose."

"I know, I kinda like it" Hinata responded cheerfully making both Shino and Kiba grunt in disgust.

"Ah, hello you lovely young people!" Kiba groaned audibly as they were greeted by Galen, it was too early for this sort of cheerfulness "And to our newest official couple. Congratulations" Galen said cheerfully as Hinata and Naruto entered the dining room.

"We didn't do anything" Naruto defended himself whilst Hinata came close to passing out, such a discussion was alright with her friends but with a man she had only met yesterday...

"I meant the ceremony yesterday" he responded confused by Naruto's behaviour.

Ceremony?

"Ceremony?" Hinata voiced the question Naruto was thinking.

"The Coronian nuptial ceremony?" Galen informed them

"Oh" they both laughed as they understood what he meant "That was just a joke"

"Joke?" Galen asked "No the ceremony is real..., you two are married."

The looks on their faces would have been comical to Kiba if the situation weren't serious

"What?"

"Th-they said it was just for show. YOU said it was just for show!"

"Wasn't it explained? I was sure Lorna would explain it. The Coronian ceremony is just for show but when a couple spend the night alone together it becomes valid"

"But we didn't do anything" Naruto argued again.

"Nothing is in the rules about... that. The way you spend the night is entirely up to you. My cousin got into a long game of Monopoly with the woman he went through the ceremony with, it wasn't until they saw the dawn light that they realised what they had done. A few people have been caught out that way. Luckily the two of them actually liked each other and their fairly happy now, sometimes the actors they team up hate each other, as you would have seen last night...."

"Well perhaps you ought to warn other people!" Naruto yelled feeling suddenly terrified, what had he done?

"Didn't you at least hear my warning at the end?" Galen asked surprised "I reminded everyone to not stay together tonight... didn't you wonder what I meant?"

"We kinda missed that bit, we weren't listening properly" Naruto muttered dishonestly.

"Oh dear" Galen sounded apologetic "well there's nothing that can really be done about it now..."

"I'm so dead" a chalk faced Hinata muttered dropping to a nearby chair and covering her face with her hands. "I'm so dead."

Silence fell on the group as Naruto stared down at his terrified girlfrie... wife and tried to work out if he was really as mad as he made out he was, there was a small part of him that was thrilled by the development. He was married to Hinata, the sweetest kindest girl he knew was his wife!

Hinata sat in her chair trying to work out just how much trouble she was going to be in when she got back, first she'd have to tell her father she was useless as a Hyuga and then she'd have to tell him she wasn't a Hyuga, she was Hinata Uzumaki... a childhood dream come true.

Shino and Kiba looked down at the 'newly weds' unsure what to do, after a moment or two Kiba turned to Shino asking "As we were there do we have to get them a gift?"

* * *

Heh heh! Well in the next chapter they will return to Konoha and try to deal with all this plus Hinata's problem will be addressed. Any compliments will be greeted with a small party and advice or complaints will be taken in consideration!

I hope you enjoyed this, I think the end feels rushed but I will complete this as soon as possible.

Please R&R


	2. A marriage?

Thanks for reviewing, everyone who reviewed!

I was questioned about Hinata's eating habits, I know that athletes need to eat a lot because they do so much exercise so ninja's probably do too, my friend who is a professional swimmer eats about 3000 or more calories a day. Also where Ino and Sakura seem stick thin Hinata seems to have a healthier shape (of course that could just be the bulky jackets) so I made her an eater instead of a dieter like the other two always seem to be.

I do not own Naruto

* * *

When training to be a shinobi you are warned against panicking, panic is a feeling of terror or dread that causes one to act irrationally. It is not a suitable feeling for a ninja to be attuned to. This feeling however, was what Naruto was currently feeling, intense and sudden panic. Of course, it's not every day that a shinobi accidentally gets married!

With Shino and Kiba's help he had managed to remove Hinata from the hotel dining room and settled her in their bed room with a glass of water. She was extremely pale, not even the fact that Naruto had placed his arm around her had caused her to blush, all the colour from her face was well and truly gone.

As for Naruto he couldn't think straight, just when things are starting to go so well between him and Hinata something like this just had to happen and ruin it all. This could either destroy them or cement their relationship. Right now things looked very far from stable. She was still mumbling to herself repeating ''oh this is bad, this is bad' over and over again

"Look everything can be worked out" Kiba told Hinata trying to calm her down "I don't get why you're getting so stressed over this!"

"Because a marriage shouldn't be done this way!" Hinata yelled looking tearful "My sister should be there, there should a beautiful dress, a cake, and a proposal where the guy gets down on one knee and actually wants to marry you, and 1000 daffodils, and Kurenai would be there. I know that means nothing to a guy but it means something to me! I can't have gotten married like this!"

"1000 daffodils?" Naruto asked turning to Kiba questioningly

"They're her favourite"

"Ah" Naruto nodded before turning back to Hinata who was still panicking.

"Marriage should mean something, it should be completely 100% intentional. My dad is going to kill me, he's going to kill me" Hinata repeated her self a few more times until Naruto knelt in front of her and placing his hands on either side of her head stared into her eyes.

"Hinata, please don't worry, I will fix this. Trust me, OK?"

Hinata stared at him doubtfully but he grinned at her and immediately everything seemed right. Smiling she wiped her eyes and nodded "I trust you."

"Well if we're all done with the personal drama we actually came here on a mission" Kiba reminded them "we better start asking around."

--

He would never admit to being homesick but despite the relative brief length of their mission Shino had never been more grateful to return to Konoha. The mission had proved fruitless.... for the most part. The journey home had been uncomfortable and that was putting it mildly, he wasn't much of a conversationalist himself but he knew his friends and they were usually a chatty group. As it was Naruto and Hinata were barely speaking, he was deep in thought and she was still anxious about her family's reaction, Kiba had been absolutely no help, he appeared to think that humming the wedding march every few minutes would be very funny.

They were just approaching the gate when he spied Naruto's pink haired friend and Hinata's cousin there to meet them.

"Hey Guys!" Sakura greeted her friends and was surprised by their lack of response, there were a few mumbled 'heys' but nothing more, an odd circumstance when Naruto would usually be jumping up and down with news of what had happened and offering to buy her ramen. "Naruto?"

"What's up?" Naruto responded listlessly

"Nothing, just about to go out on a mission, Neji's gotta debrief me and Kakashi if he ever arrives! So... How was the mission?" Sakura asked as she got no reaction, normally Naruto would be annoyed that Sakura and Kakashi were going off without him and Sasuke or would moan about Kakashi's perpetual lateness.

"Fine" Naruto said with a shrug, his tone of voice low and depressed.

"Is everything alright Lady Hinata?" Neji asked noticing her nervous finger twiddling, it had been a long time since he had seen that.

"Fine" Hinata stated in a tone very similar to Naruto's, the two of them shuffled past their welcome party making their way towards the Hokage's Tower.

Behind them Shino and Kiba ignored the questioning looks that were directed at them before following the 'happy couple' away.

"What the hell was that about?" Sakura questioned rhetorically

"I wish I knew" Neji replied unnecessarily "How much longer do you think Kakashi will be?"

--

"You found nothing?" Tsunade asked a second time, she had read their mission report but was still annoyed that nothing had been discovered.

"Nothing to report that will help Hinata."

"So the mission was a complete failure" Tsunade said decidedly as she turned her chair to look out the window, her research in Konoha had been completely useless, nothing had come up that would be of any use and she had been banking on them finding something. She sat staring off into the distance before turning back to re-question them "So you really learnt nothing? No good came of this, you have nothing to report?"

"We ascertained no exact knowledge pertaining to Hinata's condition" Shino agreed carefully

"Although the mission itself was very... rewarding" Kiba informed her with a wide smile. "for some of us"

"Shut up" Naruto hissed through gritted teeth

"Is everything alright?" Tsunade asked raising one eyebrow at the group in front of her, one of them looked amused, the other anxious, another one looked alarmed and the final one... well it was hard to see his face so who knows how he looked.

"Um... Hinata and I have something we need to talk to you about." Naruto muttered keeping his gaze on the floor and blushing brightly.

The Hokage scrutinised the nervous pair in front of her and a sudden idea hit her "Oh no" Tsunade groaned leaning her head onto the desk "Hiashi is gonna destroy you, the entire Hyuga clan are going to annihilate you. They'll find a way to make it all my fault and I'll never have a moments peace again. Damn why couldn't I have been drunk for this?" Tsunade stood up and made her way over to her secret Sakѐ stash before pouring herself a glass.

"Lady Hokage what do you think has happened?" Hinata asked interrupting Tsunade's rant

"Let me tell you one thing Naruto" Tsunade gulped down her drink before continuing "You better be taking responsibility for this baby!"

"What baby?" Naruto and Hinata asked together

"Your baby!"

"There is no baby" Naruto yelled "We haven't done that yet!"

"Yet?" Hinata asked turning to Naruto a light flush on her face and a nervous smile on her lips

With a bashful grin Naruto turned to face her "Well I figured we might do it some day...," noticing Shino and Kiba's dark expressions he held up his hands defensively saying " Hey! You can't hurt me, we are married now!"

"Married?" Tsunade interposed looking confused "You two got married?"

"That's what Kiba was talking about" Hinata explained turning to face her Hokage "It's a long story but... While we were on the mission Naruto and I got married..., by accident."

Ignoring the glass in her hand Tsunade swigged her drink straight from the bottle "Married by accident?" she asked raising one eyebrow an amused smile taking over her face as the young couple nodded, placing her bottle back onto the desk she laughed "If anyone else were to come to me with this I wouldn't believe them, but it's you Naruto, and only you could manage to get married accidently."

Once Kiba and Shino had been fully debriefed and sworn to secrecy Tsunade sat down to hear the entre story from Hinata and Naruto. As far as she could tell the ceremony was legally binding and although there was no one who could properly attest to the fact that the marriage had taken place (asides form the four that were there) and as it was unlikely any one form that town would ever come here and tell people about it the two were married.

"Well... it can be annulled" Tsunade explained "in fact Hiashi will ensure it's annulled the moment he finds out anyway. As the marriage was never formalised by a Konohan representative the two of you just need to fill out some forms, sign a statement declaring the absence of intention on both your parts to actually marry, testify that it was never consummated and there we go."

"Right" Hinata muttered with a false smile on her face, it was all so cold and clinical, was it really that easy to cancel a marriage... well it had been easier than that to get married. "Does that sound right to to you Naruto?"

"No" sounding very determined Naruto shook his head. "It sounds wrong"

"What?" with the question on their lips simultaneously, Hinata and Tsunade turned to face him

"It's wrong" he reiterated taking Hinata's hand and standing up "I'm sorry that we wasted your time Tsunade but this is all wrong. Come on Hinata!" and with that he dragged his wife out of her chair and towards the door

"Naruto!" Hinata argued trying to stand her ground "What are you doing?"

Turning to look at Hinata Naruto took her face in his hands "Do you love me?"

"Naruto" flushing red Hinata's wide eyes flickered to where Tsunade stood in her peripheral vision, she didn't want to talk about this right now in front of their hokage.

"Do you love me? Yes or no?" he looked so serious she smiled and nodded.

"Y-Yes. You know I do"

"Enough to marry me?"

"Well..." Hinata stared up into his brilliant sky blue eyes and realised that he meant it, he was being deadly serious here, her throat felt dry "Yes..." it was no more than a whisper, she coughed clearing her throat "Yes, I love you enough to marry you but...,"

"Right then" Naruto knelt quickly down on one knee looking up at her with a wide smile "Hinata Uzumaki... will you stay married to me?"

"B-b-b-bu..." Hinata couldn't seem to get to the end of the word "b-bu-bu-bu"

"I love you" he whispered still smiling up at her "and I want to be with you forever.

"You do?" she asked relief and pure joy filling her soul

"Yes."

"Yes" she said dazedly

"That's what I said"

"No! I mean yes yes, yes Naruto, yes I will stay married to you" Hinata squealed as Naruto jumped to his feet and lifted her into his arms.

"Oh Hinata" Naruto whispered as he held her close, this was it, the perfect moment, just him Hinata... and Tsunade. Ok maybe not completely perfect but he **was** completely happy. Kissing Hinata on the nose he turned to grin at Tsunade while Hinata blushed and looked at her feet "I'm married!"

"You do realise that it's still not official?" Tsunade informed them with brutal honesty "In the eyes of Konoha you're not married until the forms have been signed by you, your witnesses and you need to make your pledges in front of your Hokage. Standard shinobi marriage stuff"

"Damn" Naruto hissed angrily "Can we not skip all the paperwork? Legally we are married!"

"Well if Hiashi finds out you didn't do it the right way..."

"Give us the forms, damn paperwork" Naruto impatiently held out his hand. "Who can we use as witnesses?"

"Well Kiba and Shino must be somewhere nearby, they were our witnesses the first time around." Hinata replied staring down at the form she needed to fill in, it was standard information. The two of them rested the paper on the desk borrowing pens form Tsunade as they started to write down the required data.

"You need four witnesses in all and, family is usually there." Tsunade explained watching them with a small smile. This seemed so quick but strangely right for the young couple.

"Konohamaru and Iruka are the closest I have to family... asides from you Granny."

"And I could grab Hanabi, I ought to have my sister there anyway, she'd kill me if she wasn't at my wedding."

"Konohamaru and Hanabi are too young to be witnesses"

"Oh" there was a brief silence as the two of them thought about the problem "Neji!" Hinata exclaimed after a moment of thought.

"Uh-uh, he'll kill me" Naruto disagreed, he finished his form and signed with a flourish.

"No he won't... not if TenTen is around, so, If I get Kiba, Shino, and Neji....and TenTen so Neji doesn't kill Naruto." Hinata grinned still writing as she heard her 'husband make a nervous noise.'

"I'll get Iruka... hey! Can we still have Konohamaru and Hanabi there even if they're not witnesses?"

"It's your marriage." Tsunade responded with a shrug as she watched the two of them. It was like the plan for a shotgun wedding, only both people were perfectly willing to enter into the marriage and no shotgun!

"Excellent" Naruto grinned happily before turning back to Hinata, she was just finishing her own paperwork. "so, we grab who we can and meet back here in an hour?"

"Sure" Hinata nodded already feeling breathless at the prospect of such a rushed but important shinobi wedding.

"Great!" Naruto turned and was about to launch himself out the window when he stopped and ran back to Hinata. "Almost forgot" he announced before drawing Hinata to him and bestowing a tender kiss on her lips "Love you" he whispered and then continued on his mission to find his friends.

For a few moments Hinata stood staring dreamily at where Naruto had just been, finally a forced cough from Tsunade brought her to her senses and the poor girl stuttered her way out of the room.

Young Love!

-

"So you and Hinata are going to stay married then?" Iruka asked surprised as Naruto finished his story, he couldn't say that he was surprised that the two were together but it was happening a little fast. "Isn't that a little rushed considering it's such a big step?"

"Yeah but she's perfect for such a for me, I want this and..." Naruto stopped suddenly remembering what Hinata had said the first time they had gotten married. "You're right..., this is a big deal! look I have a few things to arrange, can you get Konohamaru for me and go to the Hokage tower?"

"Of course..." Iruka agreed watching Naruto as he ran down the street turning and yelling

"Thanks Iruka sensei, you're the best!"

Naruto didn't stop running until he found himself in front of the florists. Looking inside he immediately saw that Ino wasn't in, he wasn't sure what to do, he needed Ino to help him out with this, the only girls coming to the ceremony Hinata was picking up and he really didn't want to ruin the surprise. He was just wracking his brains for someone else that he could trust to help him when the very blonde he was looking for walked up behind him.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?"

"Ino I need a huge favour" Naruto clasped his hands together looking ready to get on his knees to beg for her help

"Ok..." Ino nodded "what's the deal?"

"Hinata and I..."

"Oh my God! Are you and Hinata finally together?" Ino interrupted squealing.

Naruto sighed, if he told her the full story it would take too much time and she would probably squeal so loud that dogs could hear her and the entire Inuzuka clan would descend on them. "Ino, I do not have much time here, look is there anyway of getting 1000 daffodils in less than forty five minutes?"

"1000 daffodils?"

"Yeah"

Ino thought about it, they usually kept a couple of hundred in ready stock, the shop had a small nursery that it was affiliated with who would have many hundreds of the flower and there were probably plenty of narcissus in the greenhouses they kept "Well... I guess so, why?"

"No time to explain, I gotta go find a cake... do you know what Hinata's favourite type is?"

"Not exactly but I know she loves the raspberry and chocolate one at Mochi's."

"Excellent!" hopefully they'd have one ready made that he could pick up. Feeling a little more prepared Naruto stopped to take a breath before holding out a wad of notes "Is this enough and can you get the flowers to the Hokage tower ASAP?"

Ino glanced down at the money nodding "Sure but what...?"

"Tsunade is at the tower and will explain everything when you get there! Tell her I sent you, I'm trusting you with this Ino, it's really important!" and with that Naruto ran off. Ino watched him go with a small smile on her face, obviously something big was about to happen between him and Hinata, this would be great gossip... first though she needed to get the flowers.

--

"We're not having a proper ceremony, we're just pledging some stuff, signing some papers and we're late right now because of all the fuss you guys made." Hinata was currently wearing a very pretty white summer dress, after finding her team mates and sensei to tell them what had happened she had then proceeded (with Kurenai in tow) to the training grounds where Neji and TenTen had been sparring and then onto her own home.

Her sister had been last to find out and she had been the one to insist that Hinata needed to wear a dress which was part of the reason why they were currently rushing towards the tower in order to meet Naruto at the appointed time, they were already ten minutes late.

"The bride is always late" Neji told his cousin trying to sound encouraging, Naruto had been right about Neji wanting to kill him after he learned what had happened, luckily Hinata had been right about TenTen being able to change his mind. The Hyuga Prodigy had at first sworn death on Hinata's 'husband' and then on her team mates for allowing this to happen. He had also began to plan a harsh punishments for anyone else who he could think of to blame.

"He's right! It's traditional" TenTen agreed keeping one hand on her weapons pouch and one eye on Neji at all times, it had taken the better part of half an hour to calm him down and she wasn't entirely sure that he would keep to his promise of not hurting anyone. The original promise had been not to kill anyone... yet. While Hinata was off talking to Hanabi it had taken TenTen a good ten minutes to change this to the promise that he wouldn't hurt anyone. He had agreed very reluctantly but had at least seemed more amenable to the idea. By the time they got to the Hyuga complex to meet Hinata and walk with her to the tower he was even beginning to see the funny side to it.

She trusted him to keep his promise but she still she wasn't going to risk it.

The small group looked very odd running up the stairs towards the Hokage's office but it couldn't be helped, they just had to hope no Hyuga's stopped to ask them questions, Hiashi would be very quick to act if someone told him about this.

"You can't go in yet" Kiba stood at the office door holding his hands up "It'll just be a second or two" he promised smiling gleefully.

Hinata stared at her teammate for a moment before nodding in agreement "Kiba, what's going on?"

"You'll soon see" Kiba smiled to himself as he thought about the surprise that awaited his team mate, when Hinata had told him that the two were making their marriage official he hadn't been sure it would work, but when he saw all the effort Naruto was going to to try and make everything right for her he had changed his mind.

Finally Ino's voice came floating through the wood "Ok Kiba, now!" Hinata briefly wondered why she was there, they hadn't arranged for her to come but any questions were stopped as the doors of the Hokage's office opened and Hinata just stared around amazed.

The office was festooned with bright yellow flowers, bunches of them covered the desk and pots of them surrounded the walls. Iruka and Konohamaru stood to one side right next to a large chocolate cake, Shino stood on the other side with Ino who was grinning like a jack o' lantern.

"I'm just going to clarify something" Ino told Hinata as she entered the room followed by her entourage "There are exactly 1000 daffodils here."

"It's perfect" Hinata whispered as her eyes focussed on an embarrassed looking Naruto who stood at the desk with Tsunade.

"I guess I should have dressed up" he apologised.

"No" Hinata shook her head and walked into his arms "You're perfect just the way you are"

There was a collective awing sound from most of the women in the office, a rather disgusted grunting one from some of the men, and an annoyed growling one from Tsunade.

"Look I didn't give you two permission to turn my office into a florist shop so can we get on with this?" The couple gave an embarrassed nod before turning to face their Hokage "Right" Tsunade smiled at the nervous newlyweds, she was pleased that the couple were together, in fact she liked the idea that she had, had a hand in it. "Ok, Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today because these two idiots managed to accidently get married."

Hinata giggled as Naruto groaned.

--

"I hope you don't mind living in my place, at least it's tidy, and we can go get your stuff tomorrow," Naruto muttered as he led Hinata up the stairs of his apartment block. She only had one bag with her and that was just what she had taken with her on the mission, still he had insisted on carrying it, they were going to arrange to get the rest of her stuff once Hiashi had been officially told. "I mean it's really small, the kitchens tiny, there's like only one bedroom..." stopping Naruto trailed off feeling embarrassed "We can talk about that another time..."

"Naruto" Hinata whispered as she wound her arms around his neck "I will admit that that part of being married makes me nervous, but I love you, I could only ever think of doing this with you."

"Really?" he asked with a teasing smirk.

"Don't embarrass me, I might pass out!" she warned in an annoyed voice

"Well I don't want that" he whispered lifting his hand to run it through her hair "I can't believe that you used to pass out around me and I still didn't get that you liked me."

"It doesn't matter" she told him pulling out of the embrace and continuing up the stairs to his apartment.

"Yes it does, everything I do I mess up, even getting married to you which should have been perfect I managed to screw up." Naruto sighed, he had managed to repair some of the damage he had done by accidently marrying her with everything he put together. Now that he thought about it there were other people that should have been there, there should have been more planning but she had seemed happy with it. She had laughed with the girls as they whispered together, Neji's toast had been kind of cool even if there was an underlying threat in it. It had been fun but it was more the sort of party you have when you're announcing an engagement, not having a wedding.

"It was perfect, there are a few other people I would have wanted there but... I never wanted a big wedding, all that fuss, all that being in the limelight..., and there were 1000 daffodils."

"You should have seen Ino's face when I asked for that, so I guess they're your favourite flowers?" he asked as they climbed the last of the stairs and turned onto his hallway.

"My mother used to love them. There are loads in the Hyuga compound"

"Cool" Naruto nodded storing that little piece of information away for anniversaries or birthdays. "I guess you're gonna miss living there!?"

"No" Hinata reassured him as they arrived at the door to his tiny apartment. "I hated living there, it was too much."

"I can safely say that this isn't too much." He muttered unlocking the door and walking in, he held the door open for her but she didn't follow. He looked down at his feet embarrassed "It's a dump I know."

"You're supposed to carry me in" she told him

"What?"

"The groom is supposed to carry the bride over the threshold...through the doorway, to signify the start of their new life there."

"I didn't know that" he said putting her bag down before walking back through the door to stand next to her.

"Well now you do" she replied slipping her arms around his neck.

"I do, don't I?" placing one hand under her legs and another around her shoulders Naruto lifted her easily into his arms.

Smiling happily Naruto carried his wife into his home.

* * *

Wow that was all so sickly sweet that my diabetes is acting up! I was going to make this the end of the Gossip series but someone once asked me why Sakura would be as mean as she is in the other stories and I haven't really covered that so what's the verdict?

Another one?

Please R&R


	3. Reactions

Ok, so this is now a three shot, basically I wanted to lay the ground work for Sakura's dislike of the marriage and other stuff pretty early on but my stories are usually set a few months apart so it wouldn't work. So this is the last in this story, I'm kinda writing some AU stuff right now but there will be other gossip fics. This is a little short though so I apologise.

I do not own Naruto

* * *

"I love lying here" Hinata sighed as she snuggled up to her husband. The two of them were lying on the roof of their apartment building staring up at the night sky. It had been six days since their impromptu wedding in Tsunade's office and they were definitely still in that 'honeymoon stage' actually this was the only place they'd actually been to in the last six days. The rest of their time had been spent in their apartment ordering take out and... enjoying married life...

There was one big reason why they hadn't yet left the building, as soon as Hinata left she would be back on Hiashi's radar and the inevitable confrontation would happen. It seemed so odd that she had been married for so long and her own father still didn't know. It was technically over a week since they had actually married, luckily for them everyone who had been at the wedding had been sworn to secrecy. Naruto and Hinata would let them know when Hiashi had been told and they could begin spreading the news.

Tightening his hold on his wife Naruto tried not to think about the future, the here and now was pretty damn good. There was only one thing that could make the here and now any better... "Tell me how you feel about me again" Naruto pleaded his eyes no longer watching the stars but staring at her.

Laughing Hinata rolled to face him "Naruto Uzumaki… I love you" She had gotten used to this request because he usually asked it about three times a day, sometimes she would just tell him she loved him whenever she could just so he'd stop asking but it didn't work, he needed to hear it when he wanted to and as she never tired of saying it, it was actually very endearing. She supposed that eventually he would stop asking but until he did it all worked out pretty well.

"I love you too" he whispered and then rolling on top of her he kissed her gently.

He never said 'tell me you love me' because it felt like he was forcing those exact words out of her but she understood. She understood better than most and she put her all into thise words. It was never said casually, never flung out with ease but said with a seriousness that the declaration deserved.

"We have to leave tomorrow" Hinata sighed interrupting what was turning into quite an intense make out session.

"Nooo" Naruto whined pouting as persuasively as possible "I don't wanna"

"Naruto" Hinata laughed, he looked cute but she was determined on this point. "I know that facing my father is a little daunting…"

"A little?" Naruto scoffed

"…but I'll tell him, all you have to do is show up after I've told him…"

"And wait for him to kill me."

"…if you really love me…"

"Oh don't do that"

"…you'll do this for me"

"That is so not fair Hinata" he moaned pressing his forehead against hers

"Hey you're a husband now, you have to get used to someone using their feminine wiles to convince you to do stuff"

"It's still not fair, no woman has ever used their 'wiles' to make me do anything, usually they just beat me up until I agree to do what they want. I don't know how to handle your methods of persuasion."

"Well I could do the whole beating you up thing if you want" Hinata said clenching one fist

"No, no!" Naruto quickly placed a placating hand over her fist "All you have to do is ask, we'll face the world tomorrow."

"Good, because I'd hate to have to beat you up"

"You really think you could?" Naruto asked challengingly

"I don't know…" Hinata lifted her head up and pressed her lips to his in a drawn out and passionate kiss, when she allowed her head to drop back to the floor Naruto was staring at her completely dazed "Oh yeah, I'd kick your ass."

"Huh?"

--

Unknown to the blissful couple Ino was suffering the most from not being able to tell anyone, having an extremely intelligent team mate who, trhough her parents, discovered something involving 1000 daffodils and Naruto, she had had to dodge many questions. Ino was a bit of a gossiper at heart, she wasn't usually the type to spread cruel information but if someone was acting oddly, or someone was in hospital, or had a new baby, or had other happy news to tell she was usually first to know and pass it on.

Still, Ino knew that Sakura would be home today and she knew that Sakura deserved to know the news... she wasn't going to just come right out and tell her but she was going to suggest that maybe they should go see Naruto and then the discovery that Hinata was there would lead to explanations and finally she'd be able to talk to someone other than TenTen about all this! There was only so many times the brunette was willing to rehash the details. Actually Ino really wanted to go visit the newlyweds, she had respectfully stayed away but now the opportunity to quiz Hinata was too good to pass up, she could already imagine the nervous girl stuttering and blushing her way through the juicy details.

Happy to be home Sakura smiled as she walked through the gates of her home town, the trip had been long and tiring and her companions were either too sarcastic, too sexually demanding, too preoccupied with a book or too quiet. Still body guarding Gaara Temari and Kankuro with Kakashi was one of the easiest gigs she'd had in a while.

"Sakura!!" Ino was at the gates waiting for her, she waved frantically before running and hugging her

"I guess you're pleased to see me!" Sakura laugherd as she pulled out of the embrace "Whats going on?"

"I have the biggest gossip in the world!!" Ino sang staring her friend full in the face

"Well thats nice" a voice behind her broke in, as Ino turned around looking guilty Sakura looked up smiling at her teammate.

"Naruto! Look who's with me" Sakura indicated the group behind her

"Kazekage sama" Naruto bowed politely surprising pretty much everyone with his good manners. "I actually came here specifically to meet you. Tsunade told me you were coming and asked me to escort you straight to the tower."

"What meds did she put you on?" Sakura asked suspiciously, why was Naruto being all polite?

"Oh he's not on meds, he's just whipped, henpecked, beaten down..." Ino cackled

"Ino" Naruto warned "Not so loud, not yet! Hinata's at the tower with Hiashi now"

"Spoilsport" Ino retaliated grabbing his arm and trying to drag him towards the tower "Ok! Come on, I wanna be there when Hiashi decides to destroy you."

"Gee, Thanks!"

As they arrived at the tower to report as Tsunade requested them to a figure appeared on the stairs exclaiming joyfully "Naruto!" before running down to meet them. "He knows, he knows everything"

"Hinata!" Naruto broke away from Ino and grabbed Hinata into an embrace lifting her clear off the ground and swinging her round. "You told him?" he asked as he put her back down on firm ground.

"He's mad as hell but there's nothing he can do" Hinata told him happily "he's with Tsunade right now."

"How mad is, mad as hell?"

"Aw" Hinata cooed as she placed her hands on his chest "Are you really that worried about it?"

"Maybe"

"Don't worry" she kissed him on the nose "You can take him" Hinata told him encouragingly

"So I can tell people now?" Ino asked excitedly

"Of course" Hinata smiled, upon noticing the crowd around them she immediately blushed and hid her face in Naruto's chest.

"Wow I haven't seen that blush for a couple of days." Naruto smiled as he turned to face everyone "I have an announcement to make. Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Kakashi and Sakura, meet my wife"

"YOUR WHAT???"

"My wife" Naruto repeated smiling at the stunned Sakura "Hinata and I are married"

"Really?" Temari asked looking surprised

"Really" Naruto nodded, truth be told it was easy to tell that he wasn't lying, the certainty was there in his eyes as he looked lovingly down at Hinata, it was there in his voice as he proudly said her new title, it was there in the way he held her keeping his arm protectively around her waist.

"Congratulations" Gaara spoke quietly as always but there was a small crease in his forehead

"You OK Gaara?"

"I just never thought people like us would have that" Gaara responded honestly

"Me neither but this is real." Naruto just couldn't stop smiling.

"When where and how?" Temari asked looking suddenly very girly and interested.

"Well..." Ino began to tell her the whole story happy to finally be able to tell someone what had actually happened.

"I'm pleased for you" Kakashi said quietly whilst Kankuro nodded his agreement "I suppose you two know enough not to need one of these to help you out?" Kakashi held up an orange book that immeadiately made Hinata blush.

"We're fine" Narto informed his sensei through gritted teeth but Kankuro looked at the cover interestedly. "Sakura?" Naruto said turning to face his old team mate "What do you think?" as they waited for a response Hinata began to feel even more uncomfortable and she moved closer to Naruto.

Sakura still couldn't wrap her mind around what was going on "But... you and Kazuhiko, the hot ANBU! You were together! Now he's gone and you're onto Naruto? When did you become such a man-eater Hinata?"

"Oh no" Hinata laughed and shook her head "Kazuhiko-kun and I are just friends."

"Just friends?"

Relieved that she could correct Sakura's misconception Hinata laughed again "Yes, he and I are good friends, have been since childhood."

The smirking Temari nodded and turned away from Ino to say "So then..." there was an evil smile on the blondes face as she looked at Hinata and Naruto "Ino's told me everything and she said neither of you have been seen for almost a week. You two are really...?" she let the question hang, silently Naruto and Hinata exchanged a blushing glance.

"Married." Naruto responded with a note of finality before turning to Hinata "Is your father still up there?" she nodded "ok, I guess I'm just about ready to go meet the in laws!"

"You can't be married" Sakura whispered still looking shell shocked

"They are" Ino shouted excitedly before anyone else could speak "I was there, I did the flowers although if I knew it was for a wedding I'd have made a proper bouquet for Hinata to throw."

"Hang on you were there?" Sakura asked "Why wasn't I invited?"

"You weren't in the village" Naruto explained "We would have had you there if we could but we had to do it fast."

"When exactly did this happen?"

"A week ago"

"And you couldn't wait a week for me to come back?" Sakura enquired sounding really angry.

"Sakura!" Naruto said forcefully "You are a good friend, and yes, I would have liked to have had you there. However, this marriage is about me and Hinata, no one else. Now excuse me, I have to go meet my new father in law."

As Naruto and Hinata turned to make their way up to the Hokage's office, most people smiled at the young couple and followed them easily. The revelation caused a great deal of excited talk amongst them and Ino was already wondering who to tell next. Only one person didn't follow suit, she watched them climb the stairs with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

How did this happen? First Hinata has lunch dates with Kazuhiko (even if they were innocent) and now she was married to Naruto. This was supposed to be **her** life, she was meant to be the one with the attractive guys around her. Naruto loved her, Sakura, he had done for years.

How did Hinata become the most sought after and popular girl in the group?

Sakura stared after the two of them feeling angry.

She had to do something about this.

* * *

Alright this is the end of the three shot, I know this story leaves things hanging but Destructive Gossip technically follows this fic so don't forget to check out my other Gossip stories, they're on my profile and may I say happy reading NaruHina lovers!!!

Please R&R


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